Fertile farmland and rich soil must be preserved forever for future generations

At the start of the New Year, two departments of the State Council jointly convened a video conference on the designation of permanent basic farmland and the management of agricultural land for facilities, to implement the guiding spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and other central leading comrades, and to jointly advance the protection of cultivated land and the designation of permanent basic farmland. This is an important measure to love agriculture, protect agriculture and strengthen agriculture, and fully reflects the great importance the Party Central Committee and the State Council attach to the work of cultivated land protection and the development of facility agriculture.

⟦NL> The Party Central Committee and the State Council have always attached great importance to the protection of cultivated land. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed: “The red line for cultivated land must be strictly guarded”, “permanent basic farmland must be designated”, and “cultivated land must be protected the way we protect cultural relics, or even the way we protect giant pandas”. Premier Li Keqiang pointed out that permanent basic farmland must be strictly designated, special protection must be strictly implemented, and the “fence” for cultivated land protection must be tightened. This fully reflects the central leadership's profound grasp of China's national conditions, agricultural conditions and grain conditions, and fully demonstrates the central leadership's firm determination to protect cultivated land and safeguard national food security. We must deeply understand, accurately grasp and resolutely implement this.

Cultivated land is the foundation of agricultural development and the basis of farmers' livelihood. A “super-large” demand for grain and a “super-small” per capita share of cultivated land are China's basic national conditions. At present, China is in a stage of rapid industrialization and urbanization, the pressure to protect cultivated land is growing, and the task of safeguarding national food security is becoming increasingly arduous. The central leadership, sizing up the situation, has set the strategic bottom line for food security of “ensuring basic self-sufficiency in grains and absolute security of staple foods”. To hold this strategic bottom line, the prerequisite is to ensure the stability of both the quantity and quality of cultivated land, and we must hold the red line of 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land and the bottom line of cultivated land quality. If the skin is gone, what will the hair cling to? If cultivated land is lost, or the quality of cultivated land drops greatly, the supply of our agricultural products, especially grain production, will become water without a source and a tree without roots. Therefore, designating permanent basic farmland, especially designating the existing cultivated land around cities and towns and along transportation routes as permanent basic farmland, is precisely about nailing down the “hard rules” of cultivated land protection. Urban planning and construction must “let people see the mountains, see the water and remember their nostalgia”, preserve fertile farmland and rich soil for future generations, and give the Chinese nation space for sustainable development. There is no greater good than this.

Protecting cultivated land well and using cultivated land well is what the lifeblood of agricultural development depends on, and it is the duty of governments at all levels and functional departments; it cannot be shirked or slackened. All localities must strengthen overall work coordination, functional departments must enhance their sense of responsibility, firmly establish the idea of “one chessboard”, step forward into position, act proactively, think with one mind and work toward one goal, form a joint work force, handle this good deed well and make this practical matter solid, accelerate the designation of permanent basic farmland, strengthen the management of facility agriculture, and make greater contributions to safeguarding national food security and promoting the development of modern agriculture.